The Looming Shadow
by Lord of Misrule
Summary: One of my early efforts, so not great, but it involves a dark and fearsome enemy trying to bring Chaos the the Star Trek universe
1. Chapter 1

I own neither Star Trek or Babylon 5 and do not seek to profit by using their characters and locations.

The Looming Shadow.

Part 1, Descending Darkness

prologue

"Captains log, federation starship USS Patton, Captain George Riker commanding. Today is a great day for the federation, hours ago the federation and the Klingon empire signed the Khitomer accords, peace now exists between our people. As a result patrols along the Klingon Neutral zone are to be reduced immediately, and that means we can go home."

The Patton eased gracefully through space, turning gently onto her new heading for home.

"Course for Earth locked in Captain." Lieutenant Hyde reported.

"Engage at warp five." Riker ordered with a wide smile. It was a sentiment the entire staff felt, the entire crew. Peace with the Klingons, it was almost too good to believe, after all this time they could finally rest secure. Even better, at current speed he could be home in time to see his child born.

His ship darted off into warp, leaving the neutral zone and years of memories far behind, a new future opened up. The elegant lines of his ship, one of the new Lexington class, rushed home with eagerness, despite its metal and mineral body it was almost as if it too wanted to go home, to rest in the confines of spacedock after all this time on the edge of federation territory. But it was not to be.

The ship shook a little, almost imperceptibly.

"Did you feel something?" Riker glanced to the helmsman.

"Nothing in this region of space sir."

"Confirmed." Sirak, the science officer noted, "no celestial phenomenon in this region that would account for a disturbance."

"But you did feel it." Riker pointed out. "How are our engines?" the last thing he wanted was a delay getting home.

Looks fine to me." Hyde reported, as he did a more violent judder hit.

"Increase speed," Riker ordered, "Adjust course to take us around this region."

A sudden much more powerful jolt rocked the ship sending a number of unsecured items scattering across the blue carpet.

"Subspace shockwave!" Hyde yelled.

"Where's it coming from?" Riker demanded

"Unknown." Sirak stated, calm but still having to raise his voice. "It is disrupting our warp field."

"Drop to impulse, raise shields!" Riker was both concerned and more than a little annoyed. He was ready for battle, had the Klingons played a trick? Was the treaty merely to put Starfleet off its guard for an attack? Riker was fuming, if this was a surprise strike he was going to rip it out of their Klingon hides before going to hell.

The Patton dropped out of warp ready for a fight, but found nothing.

"Any sign of ships?" Riker wondered.

"No sir." Sirak spoke with typical Vulcan stoicism. "Though they could be cloaked."

Before Riker could ponder his next course of action his science officers station came alive.

"Massive energy surge, all around us." He was infuriatingly calm. "Unknown origin, but appears to be a form of subspace."

The Patton rocked violently as the energies were suddenly released, an invisible storm tossing the little ship before. From the eye of the storm emerged something of terror, maybe a vessel, maybe a creature. It filled the viewscreen with its fearsome visage staring straight at Riker. It passed very close by, for a few moments it was almost touching the Patton before it vanished once more in a wave of energy. The Patton was tossed once again, buckling and twisting in the force.

"We're caught in the backwash!" Hyde yelled.

"Get us out of here!" Riker demanded, his own surprise and sudden fear barely suppressed by his responsibility to his crew.

"Its too late." Calm to the end Sirak broke the news with no compassion.

The Patton winked out of existence, lost into a different world. Wherever the unknown disturbance had led was where the Patton had gone, lost.

Its passing was noted by two ships, one was a federation vessel, though not of this time. Its tiny size hiding a fearsome ability and the amazing ability to traverse time. It was centuries out of place, but observing the unfolding events with precise scrutiny.

The second ship was even further out of time, as ancient as time itself. Both watched unaware of each other as events were set in motion.

A long time afterwards….

The Dominion war was long over, but Starfleet still kept finding little surprises left behind. A few mines here, unexploded torpedoes there, all of them a hazard to shipping and all of them needed removing. But by far the most important task in the aftermath of the war was making sure the Dominion facilities deep in Cardassian space were properly decommissioned, and that is why they were here.

The USS Titan dropped out of warp deep in Cardassian territory, there it was met by a Klingon cruiser and a Cardassian patrol vessel. Technically the Cardassians were on the Federations side now, but there were still renegade forces, those Cardassians who had been very close to the Dominion and after the armistice risked facing trial for warcrimes. They were the main headache of the new Cardassian government, and in a gesture of friendship the Federation and Klingons had offered to help find them and remove their facilities, and much to everyone's surprise the Cardassians had actually agreed.

So it was that Captain William Riker took his new ship into Cardassian territory on his first true test. The refitted Galaxy class headed in system and was hailed by the Cardassian vessel.

"On screen." Riker had a relaxed command style, something learned from years as a first officer. He respected his old commanders approach, and in tense situations Riker took a leaf right out of Picards book, but most of the time he tried to be more approachable than the often crusty older officer.

"Greetings Captain." A smiling Cardassian face grinned at him. Riker was a little disturbed, he wasn't a huge fan of Cardassians but at least this one appeared more genuine than the superscillious officers he usually dealt with. "I am glad to see the Federation takes this matter so seriously." The sight of a war refit Galaxy had clearly had something of a mixed affect on the Cardassian crew.

"Thank you for allowing us access to your territory." Riker was in top Picard mode. "The Federation appreciates your welcome and is determined to assist your people as best we can. Now, where is the base so we can proceed with the dismantlement?"

There was an awkward silence.

"Well Captain," the Cardassian searched for the right words. "We seem to have lost it."

Riker was genuinely taken aback. His instincts urged him to be suspicious.

"With all due respect, the Cardassians aren't known for losing things, let alone something as big as a base."

The Cardassian officer bristled a little. "Our records are quite clear, there is a base in this asteroid field where the Obsidian order tested new weapons and torture devices, but it isn't there now."

Riker liked a mystery, but this smacked more of a wild goose chase, some first mission.

"Very well," he sighed. "We will conduct a scan of the area."

"We will escort you there." The Cardassian vanished, an image of his ship appearing in his place. It turned and headed to the nearby field.

"Follow them Mr Kellerman." He told the helm officer. "Inform the Klingons to wait on the edge of the field and be ready to back us up." Riker was an excellent poker player, it had honed his senses and given him healthy respect for a bluff. The Cardassian was a bit off to Riker, like he was hiding something. If this was a trap he wanted a solid fall back, someone to watch his back, and he could thing of no one better than the Klingons. Despite differences the Dominion war had united them like never before, now Riker trusted them as much as a fellow Federation Captain, hell he had even started trusting Romulans. Just a little.

They entered the asteroid field and immediately found sensors and communications became badly effected. The Obsidian order had been smart to hide their base here, if they weren't right on top of it they probably wouldn't detect it. The science officer worked on it but sensor range was badly curtailed. Perfect hiding place.

"This is where it was." A Cardassian voice came over the comm. System. Sure enough ahead of the Titan was nothing but an empty space, rather unusual in the middle of an asteroid field.

"Captain, we have some faint readings." Science officer Mallard reported, "very faint sir, I doubt the Cardassians could detect it."

"What do you make of it?" Riker questioned.

"A trail, heading away into the field."

"Inform the Cardassian ship, then follow the trail." Riker paused far a moment. "And raise shields."

The Titan led the way deeper into the field, the small Cardassian ship followed. Things were getting ominous, follow a trail of breadcrumbs into the beasts layer. Riker smiled at the thought, a refit galaxy was a tough opponent for anyone, whatever happened he was confident in his ship and crew.

"Captain!" Mallards voice rang out across the bridge. "The Cardassian ship was just destroyed!"

"On screen!" The view switched to behind, a cloud of debris clearly visible.

"Where did the fire come from?" Riker wanted to know.

"Reading energy surges behind us, very large."

"Red alert! Brink us about and inform the Klingon cruiser. Plot an escape route and be ready just in case." He didn't want to run from an unprovoked attack but it was reassuring to have something to fall back on.

"Incoming transmission"

The comms system was suddenly swamped by an all powerful transmission.

"We are Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ship. Your biological and cultural distinctiveness will adapt to service us. We are Borg. Resistance is futile."

Riker grimaced, at least it explained where the Cardassian station went.

"Borg cube entering sensors!" Mallard barely kept his composure.

Suddenly that escape route looked pretty good.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1

"Orders Captain?" Ensign Berlez on the helm asked.

"Get us out of here." Riker was keeping a very even tone to reassure his crew. "Full Impulse."

The Titan spun remarkably fast for such a big ship and began the long run out of the Asteroid field. Inevitably the cube followed. A pair of green torpedoes lanced by, detonating on a nearby rock and shaking Rikers command.

"Helm, use the asteroids for cover, keep us away from their fire!"

The gleaming vessel began a wild chase, turning hard to put objects between itself and the following enemy. Explosions began to fill the area as the borg ship tried to target the Titan, it blasted asteroids into chunks of debris which showered the fleeing Galaxy class vessel, fortunately the shields coped well with the barrage. The Borg vessel ploughed on, ramming past smaller asteroids and destroying the larger ones. It advanced implacably on the most efficient route slowly gaining on the Titan.

"Ready aft torpedoes." Riker watched the gap closing, he hoped this would slow them down. "Fire."

Six quantum torpedoes emerged from the ship, they were targeted on asteroids close to the Borg ships intended path. They exploded behind the asteroids, forcing the huge rocks into the face of the cube. The Borg weapons and tractor beams went to work, countering and dissecting the new obstacles with mechanical precision. But one of the immense rocks hit, knocking it off course and crumpling one of the corners.

A quick cheer came from the weapon station as Commander Meyer celebrated a good hit. But it wasn't over yet.

"We've bought some time, make use of it." Riker pointed to the helm. "Give it all we've got."

Berlez had started her Starfleet career flying fighters, Riker was hoping she still had some of those tricks up her sleeve. The Titan no longer tried to hide, it pushed its impulse engines to the limits safety would allow. Riker wasn't bothered about relativity right now, but he was worried about the millions of rocks surrounding him. Berlez was exceptional, and with the computer plotting the safest course they were doing well, even if it was sometimes edge of the seat flying. A massive rock came within feet of the port nacelle, sending red lights throughout the bridge blinking. Riker was stood in the centre, unable to stay sat down. He leaned his body as the ships inertial dampeners struggled to cope with a massively high G turn. The viewscreen was filled with turning asteroids seemingly straight ahead, he was amazed at the control the young ensign had and the responsiveness of his new ship, much as he liked the old Enterprise-D he couldn't imagine it putting up with these hard manoeuvres.

"we're nearing the edge." Science officer Mallard said.

"Get ready to go to maximum warp, and as soon as we're clear get a signal to fleet command."

"Aye sir."

Suddenly the Titan was blasted sideways, Riker lost his footing and fell into his own chair, bursting open his brow.

"Shields down 40!" Meyer yelled above the screech of metal.

"Borg vessel dead ahead!" Mallard screamed out, not hiding his fear.

"How the hell…" Riker began

"Captain, its hull pattern doesn't match the first cube."

"Your saying it's a second cube!" Riker exclaimed, completely aghast.

"I think so, two cubes."

This was a nightmare, to find one cube in the alpha quadrant was a sign of a coming disaster, but two was unprecedented. Looked like the Borg were learning.

"Evasive action!" Riker said needlessly, Berlez already had the Titan in a steep dive. More torpedoes passed by, one hit.

"Shields at 10!"

"Are we nearly clear yet." Riker asked.

"Negative." Berlez replied, a precise military mind now firmly in gear to cope with the pressure.

The Titan decelerated sharply, almost throwing Riker across the bridge again.

"Borg tractor beam." Mallard pre-empted Rikers question.

"Modulating the shields." Meyer was already on it, his training showing through.

"Get some torpedoes armed ready." Riker prepared for fight if flight was no longer an option.

Another torpedo hit, the shields failed and the tractor beam grasped the hull itself.

"Fire phasers, full spread."

Golden energy sliced the borg ships face, causing little damage. The tractor beam began pulling them slowly up toward the jumbled mess of the cube.

"Ready torpedoes." Riker swallowed his fear, a torpedo spread at this range was as likely to destroy his ship as damage the borg. "And ready auto destruct." He wasn't going to be taken alive and assimilated, not after what Picard had told him. He was certain his crew felt the same.

The tractor beam released the Titan. Riker was left dumb for a moment, not understanding. His viewscreen showed a shower of sparks coming from the tractor assembly. The answer suddenly appeared, the Klingon Vor'cha and four Cardassian Galors swept over the cube blasting away as they past by.

"This is Gul Macet of the new Cardassian union, I believe we can be of assistance?"

Riker smiled widely, fate was being kind to him.

"Thank you Gul, there is a second cube on its way, we have to get out of here now!"

"Two cubes?" the Cardassian had never met the borg before, but their reputation preceded them. "We're right behind you."

The small fleet made one more pass, borg weapons reaching out and sweeping the fleet, draining shields. The Titan put more power into her engines and darted the last few miles out of the asteroid field.

"Helm, hard about. Ready those torpedoes." Riker pointed the Titan back at the field ahead of the borg.

"Riker to fleet, keep your heads down"

The Cardassians and Klingon vessel took sudden evasive action clearing the line of fire. Ten quantum torpedoes left the Titan and streaked past the fleet detonating at the edge of the asteroid field. A rain of debris blasted into the path of the Borg cube like a shotgun blast, halting its advance. A few hundred miles away the second cube exited the field and began to close in.

"Now I think its really time we left." Riker urged, "Helm?"

The Titan spun around and disappeared into warp, The Klingon and Cardassians close behind. The borg stood motionless in space for a moment and then returned to the asteroid field. They had been directed to assimilate all technology in this star system, as the ships were no longer in the system they were no longer part of that protocol. The fleet was safe, at least for now.

"What surprises me more is that it took so long." Captain Picard stated bluntly.

"How do you mean?" Admiral Ross pressed.

They were sat in the conference room at Starfleet command on Earth. An emergency meeting of senior officers had been convened and as resident expert on the borg Captain Picards opinions were well noted.

"We all know the Borg are masters of adaption, they learn from their mistakes." Picard continued. "They tried to assimilate us with one cube and failed, twice. It is only logical for them to send two cubes next, then three, and four until they send an overwhelming force."

"But why just two ships then." The gravely voice of Admiral Janeway rose in question. "The Borg have massive resources, we have seen them first hand. If they wanted to assimilate us they could send a thousand ships and do it in a week."

"Even less time than that." Picard added. "They must have their own problems, maybe this fluidic alien race you mentioned."

"Perhaps." Janeway agreed. "in any case two cubes are more than enough to worry about for now, lets just be thankful they have a slow learning curve."

"Alright then." Ross stood announcing his decision. "Mobilise the fleet, I will talk to the President and ask for full authority to attack the Borg. They haven't threatened the Federation but if they get a foot hold on Cardassia it will be bad news for us all."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2

"No"

Ross blinked, the answer was totally unexpected.

"Excuse me Mr President, but what the…"

"I will not authorise an attack on the Borg."

"You cannot mean that!"

"Admiral please, control yourself. The Borg have made no hostile moves toward the federation, or even the Cardassians."

"They attacked our ships!"

"Who flew right into the middle of them. Admiral for all we know this is just an expedition to our quadrant."

Ross could not believe his ears. "Mr President, the Borg have twice tried to assimilate us all! If that isn't an act of war what is!"

"That was then. In case you hadn't noticed we have just fought a massive war, one we have not yet recovered from. We cannot provoke the Borg by attacking ships which are just minding their own business."

"minding their own business!"

"Admiral, we will not launch a pre-emptive strike against anyone, including the borg. By all means prepare your defenses but we will not be attacking."

Admiral Ross stormed out of the office in a fury, the president was being so damn short sighted it made him sick. Still, he had managed to get approval for a border defence force. He tapped his communicator.

"Ross to Fleet command, alert the first, second, fourth and sixth fleets to assemble on the Cardassian border and await further orders." Ross smiled despite himself, technically it was a border defence force, it just happened to be made up of about a thousand ships.

He headed to the transporter room practicing what he would say to Chancellor Martok. The Federation President may not make pre-emptive strikes but he knew a Klingon who would.

Admiral Ross was happy to see Martok again, even if only on a viewscreen. The gnarled old Klingon was already on the bridge of his flagship, the Sword of Kah'less.

"It is good to see you again Admiral." He smiled a toothy grin. "It has been a long time since we drank together and told the old tales of battle."

Ross smiled back, same old Martok. "That day is coming soon I hope. I am leading a force to the Cardassian border, over a thousand ships with more if I need them."

"The Border?" Martok spoke slowly. "Then your government hasn't changed its mind."

"No, we are to hold on the border." He was suddenly deeply ashamed, his friend was going to face death while he watched on the sidelines. "But I promise you, orders or not we will be there if it goes wrong."

"I understand Admiral." Martok nodded. "I will miss you at the battle."

"Qapla" Ross said the Alien words with surprising dignity.

"To us all." The Chancellor struck his chest and the screen blanked out.

Ross turned and sat back down in his command chair aboard the Sovereign Class USS Dauntless, his newly commissioned flagship.

"So what's happening?" he asked his XO.

"A large force of Klingon warships led by Martok is heading into Cardassian space, there it will meet almost the whole Cardassian navy. The Romulans have acknowledged our signal but have made no response as yet."

"And our units?"

"First fleet is almost at the assembly area, they're gonna meet the USS Titan there. Sixth fleet is just leaving DS9 now, along with the Defiant. The other fleets should be there in a week, as should we if we proceed at maximum warp."

"Alright helm, you heard the man, lets go."

The Dauntless streaked into warp, leaving Earth far behind. Every ship in the fleet was on full alert, Ross had made plans for the reactivation of the Dominion war reserves and the recall of non serving officers. If the Borg came for the Federation time was going to be a critical factor. He had his best people coming up with strategies and had ordered the defence research at starbase 324 to be given maximum priority. The Federation had found some very intriguing technology on the USS Voyager when she returned home, and although the Temporal anomalies bureau had had a heart attack when it showed up Ross and pulled rank and a few favours and kept the technology in Starfleet hands, though under strict supervision. Of course, there were elements within the Federation, known to but a few, who had also been doing research on this new technology with a view to using it practically.

Picard headed back to the transporter room. After a short time on Earth the Enterprise was once more needed. Once Picard hadn't been trusted to face the borg, now he was going to be in the front line. Assuming there was a front line left when he arrived.

"Captain, wait a moment." He turned to see Admiral Janeway following him.

"Admiral, here to wish us luck?" he grinned.

"Yes, and something else." She handed him a data pad.

"What is it?"

"When we came back from the Delta quadrant we brought some…some technology back with us." She looked around conspiratorially. "It is supposed to be Ultra secret, nobody knows. Those are plans for Transphasic torpedoes, Borg killers."

"Borg killers? Why the hell isn't the fleet being issued with these?" he whispered fiercely.

"They're from the future." She held up her hands to stop his retort. "Yes, I know its crazy, that's why I'm giving you the data on how to make your own. Tell no one, I'll be on a penal colony faster than Q gets in a hissy fit." They both smiled, painfully, at that thought.

"Thank you admiral."

"Don't mention it. If it all goes to hell out there those plans are your best shot. Now get going and don't be late."

The Bridge of the Enterprise had barely changed, despite the massive refit a few months earlier to fix the damage inflicting by the Scimitar. The only difference was the crew, new faces everywhere. He still had Geordi in engineering, Beverly in Medical and Deanna at his left hand, but otherwise the old family had split up. Riker and Worf had their own commands now, and Data…

He looked at the operations console to the left, lingering on it a moment too long.

"Captain?" Troi spoke gently to him.

"I'm alright counsellor" he smiled "Memories." Troi had asked for a transfer to the USS Titan, and Picard had done all he could to speed it along, in fact she was meant to be staying on Earth to await Captain Rikers return, but she had sensed she would be needed on the Enterprise a while longer, so was content to remain for now.

"Helm, set course for the Cardassian border, Warp Nine."

"Aye Captain." The fresh faced lieutenant typed up the coordinates.

"Engage."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3

"We are Borg. You will lower your shields and surrender your ships. Your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own you will adapt to service us. We are Borg. Resistance is futile."

"Open Fire!" Martok yelled with unrestrained glee.

The Borg had moved, one ship had entered the neighbouring Cardassian system called Alstis where it threatened a fairly large Colony. Gul Macet and Martok had decided to attack there and worry about the second cube later.

The first line was the Cardassian weapon platforms. Volleys of plasma torpedoes burst out from the launchers and burned across the void. They were followed by compression beams reaching out to assert Cardassian dominance of this system.

The Cube took the massed volley head on, it vanished in a fearsome flash of fire as the barrage hit home. Macet nodded, pleased with his work. These automated satellites had caused carnage in the war, their reputation was well founded.

But Martok was not convinced, and rightly so. As the fires dimmed the simple form of the cube remained, ravaged but not destroyed.

"Continue firing!" Macet ordered. Platforms fired again, dozens of very potent weapons slammed the cube as the borg patiently scanned the area. Then they moved.

"What is their course?" Martok kept his one eye on the Borg vessel.

"Heading for the colonies moon sir"

Martok cursed, that was where the power grid that fed the platforms was, the Borg had spotted it almost instantly.

"We cannot rely on the Platforms." Martok was unsurprised, despite Macets reassurances. "First wave begin your attack."

Hundreds of small vessels left the combined Klingon and Cardassian fleets, mainly Hideki's and B'rel's. They headed toward the cube, which was now laying into the defence platforms, and began high speed strafing runs on the cubes flanks, its front was lost in plasma fires.

Martok knew the small ships had little chance of destroying the cube, but what they did do was distract the borg and draw their fire. Which was where phase two came into effect.

"Signal the fleet, concentrate your fire on the rear of the cube." He hoped the sheer wall of destruction to both front and back would overload the cubes defenses and give him victory. "Break and attack! Find me in Sto'vo'kor!" he cried the warriors death song and prepared for death or glory, there was no other option.

Sixteen ships of the first wave had already been destroyed before the main force entered weapons range. They swept in twenty at a time, unleashing a full alpha strike from long range before pulling up and heading to the rear of the fleet to cycle through again. At the head was The Sword of Kah'less, along with its sisters it blasted a river of green disruptors and torpedoes at the cube and then quickly broke off to clear the lines of fire for the Cardassian ships behind, yellow weapons streaking forward. Then more Klingons, a tide of ships firing steadily at the Borg vessel. By the fourth wave it had analysed the situation and responded, a battery of torpedoes blazed out and slammed into Martoks fleet, crippling shields on half a dozen ships. Never the less they fired their weapons and rejoined the circuit, the firing never let up.

Martok detested the Borg, as did all Klingons. They lacked even the basic principles of honour or courage or even respect. The Federation may not understand Klingons but at least they respected them, even feared them. But not the Borg. And if taken, more than the dishonour of capture came the living death of assimilation. No Klingon would ever accept that, ever. Martok may gain none of the joys of fighting a noble enemy, but victory was joy enough.

The defence platforms were being systematically destroyed now, the borg cubes main attention still focused on the way ahead. Martok hated being ignored, but unlike many Klingons he was shrewd, he fought back the urge to close range and swarm the ship and maintained the steady firing, hopefully wearing down the defences before committing to an all out attack. His diversionary squadrons were already in trouble, the cloaks seemingly having no effect on this borg vessel. Still, like the warriors they were they kept attacking, leaving deep scars in the cubes surface. But it wasn't enough. The cube continued on its mission while Martoks ships began to take more and more damage.

"Captain, Martok has engaged the Borg."

Riker nodded his thanks. "Keep me posted."

The Titan had been joined by a couple of hundred more federation starships, with many more on the way. These ships were the sharp edge of Starfleet. They were hardy ships, most only a few years old and heavily modified for the new enemies of this century. Gone were the Mirandas and Excelsiors, replaced by Akiras and Nebulas. Riker hated this watching, he was eager to get in there and help his allies. He had faced the Borg before and survived plenty of times, he would do the same here. If only he had the orders.

Commander Worf was just as restless as the Defiant sped through warp. He too knew and hated the Borg from personal experience. He was sat once more on the bridge of the Defiant ready to battle the Borg, it was the whole point of this ships existence and right now he felt it was the point of his existence too.

Behind him followed the Sixth fleet, also veterans of the Dominion war equipped with the best ships in the fleet. They went forth and hoped for the best but prepared for the worst.

And the worst was yet to come.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4

The USS Vigilante made a hard turn, three flaming green bolts of energy seared past with little room to spare. In response the Vigilante sent a rapid burst of phaser fire into the already heavily damaged cube, tearing out more metal from its hull.

Captain Maxwell watched intently as his ship continued a series of sharp evasive moves until it got out of Borg weapons range and began to prepare for another run. The battle was not going well, the Klingons and Cardassians had lost about half their ships, and the Cardassian colony they were protecting was having its orbital defences swatted aside by this cube. In a few minutes it would have a clear run to the surface where it could begin full scale assimilation of the world, meanwhile the tactical cube was keeping the bulk of the allied forces busy, mainly by ripping them to pieces. About five hundred federation ships were hitting the tactical cube with the Klingons, while a further hundred including the Vigilante, were helping the Cardassians with their problem.

"Alright Malak." He drawled, "Lets give 'em a full torpedo strike this time."

The Vigilante was almost brand new, although built ten years ago as a standard Akira class cruiser a Dominion battleship had done a pretty good job of disassembling her four years ago so she was rebuilt. The biggest modification was the installation of quantum torpedo systems instead of the older photon launchers, giving the Vigilante a serious punch for her size.

"Attack pattern laid in." Malak, the Andorian weapons officer replied.

The Vigilante dodged forward between Borg weapons and wrecked Cardassian ships, the looming black mass before them growing ever larger and intimidating. To the right a trio of damaged Cardassian ships also attacked, from above a Nebula class vessel spiralled out of control as a torpedo struck its forward shields. Captain Maxwell remained focussed, he had a reputation as an excellent combat captain, which is why he found himself once more helming a ship during the crisis of the Dominion war. Despite his past insubordination, some would say mutiny, Starfleet had needed every experienced officer and so he had been given the chance to redeem himself, a second chance to serve the fleet. Now he was still living that chance, only the faces of the enemy had changed and now he was fighting alongside the Cardassians to protect a Cardassian world. Fate had such a odd sense of humour.

The Vigilante opened fire, an awesome spectacle of phasers and quantum torpedoes illuminating the pale little ship. It pulled a high G turn to bring its port side launchers to bear, unleashing more torpedoes. Borg tractor beams grazed its shields, the frequency adaptors probing the federation ships defences. The Vigilante rolled becoming inverted and training its starboard tubes on target, all the while firing bursts from its phasers as more ships turned and fought around the cube. Finally she turned her back on the Borg and sped away, her aft tubes having the final parting words. Despite the violence of the attack, and the audacity of its method, damage to the cube was less than spectacular. It continued slowly on towards the colony, the thinning line of Cardassians powerless to resist but unable to give up kept on attacking.

"helm," Maxwell reclined in his chair, a picture of measured calm. "Bring us about for another run."

"Have they spotted us?" Captain Picard asked his bridge crew.

"No indication sir." Commander Madden replied. "The cube is still focusing on the surviving Starfleet vessels and slowly heading for our colony."

The Ateega system was a mess, ships and defence platforms littered the space around the Enterprise, growing ever thicker as they headed further in system to confront the borg.

"Scans show over a hundred ships destroyed." Madden reported solemnly.

"Are you sure?" Picard wondered, "that's a hell of a lot of ships."

"Confirmed sir." A science officer reported.

"Is that a standard cube?" Picard was very wary, there was no way even the Borg could destroy so many ships so quickly.

"Yes sir." Madden answered. "it has taken moderate damage. I read fifty ships continuing to attack it, most are damaged and I can't get a signal to them."

This wasn't adding up, the cube should be burning from stem to stern, even if not destroyed it should be showing heavy damage from an entire federation fleet.

"Commander, I want you to keep a close eye on sensor returns, something is very wrong here." He paused, crossing his arms. "However until something comes along to ruin our day we will proceed as ordered, target the cube and ready a pair of transphasic torpedoes." They were supposed to be one shot kill weapons, but Picard was taking no chances.

As the Enterprise raced forward Picards suspicion was shortly rewarded.

"Captain, readings from the planet!" Madden called out.

"Type?"

"Borg."

Picard left his chair and ran to the tactical station. It showed a Borg cube emerge from behind the main colony world.

"That makes more sense." Picard said quietly. "Two cubes."

Madden paled noticeably, the concept of fighting the borg was bad enough, but fighting so many of them…

He was interrupted by another chime from his station.

"Captain! A third Borg ship!"

"Three?" Picard was worried about engaging two, even with his experience and the new weapons, but three was a bit too much.

"Correction, five ships!" Madden couldn't believe it, the entire bridge was silent allowing the news to thoroughly soak in, each mind racing to calculate their odds of survival. They weren't good.

"Five cubes." Troi shook her head. "How do we fight that many?"

Picard stuck out his chin a little. "Same way we would fight one. Geordi, I need more torpedoes, I don't care how…" He cut off any questions, "… But our lives depend on it. Helm, stay on the first cube and prepare to attack, then plot a course to intercept the other vessels, try and keep us out of their line of sight, use the wrecks, the planets, the other cubes. Every trick you know." He returned to his chair, tugged down his uniform jacket and glanced around, focused and business like.

"Engage."

The USS Titan was hurled backwards by the force of the exploding Steamrunner class ship, debris bounced off the shields as the Helm officer fought to recover. 

"Get us back in the line!" Riker shouted. "We have to continue the attack!"

The tactical cube was shrugging off most attacks, its shields and armour unspeakably strong, but finally it was showing signs of weakness, tiny chinks developing in its armour for the Klingons and Starfleet to exploit. But at a high cost.

The Titan rolled over once more before stabilising, then she powered up and pressed on again once more unto the fiery battle, darting around wrecks and debris with phasers blazing as she came. The cube saw Rikers approach and dropped gigatons of firepower his way, only Berlez's exceptionally piloting ability prevented the ship being overwhelmed. She dodged back and forth, lashing out at the cube. To her right the flagship USS Dauntless was doing the same thing, and close behind was the Defiant and four more of her class, all concentrating on one weakened spot of the cubes face.

"Meyer! Torpedoes!" Riker didn't need to explain further, the tactical officer putting a full spread right on target. They hit at the same time as a volley from the Dauntless, collapsing part of the cubes shields. Before they could recover the area was blasted by the Defiant, opening a breach in the cubes surface. Cheers sounded on the bridge.

"Break off, get us out of here!" Riker called to the helm, who was already yanking the ship round. There was still a long way to go.

Worf roared with pride as his guns carved out a hole in the Borg cube. The Defiant had found first blood of the fight with this new and powerful enemy and he rejoiced. The Defiant cork screwed away, beams and torpedoes trying to catch it but failing. She wasn't Jadzia but Ezri Dax could sure handle a ship.

Worfs celebrations didn't last long. A sensor report popped up on his screen and totally punctured his mood.

"Captain!" Mallard yelled to Riker. "Transwarp conduit forming!"

"Show me." Riker watched as the viewscreen turned to empty space. A moment later a Borg ship arrived, and then another. And then more.

"Sensors show sixteen cubes!" Mallard barely held back from screaming.

"Dear…" Riker was interrupted by a signal.

"Captain, it's the flagship."

"Put him on."

Admiral Ross's grimacing face arrived on screen.

"Captain, you've seen the new arrivals?"

"Yes sir, we are now facing eighteen cubes, it's a full scale invasion." He was disbelieving, unable to conceive of such a thing and what it meant.

"I'm ordering a full retreat," Ross sighed. "We can't face that sort of firepower, regroup at the Ateega system, its our nearest colony."

"Understood." Riker sure wasn't going to argue with that. "And the Klingons?"

"Martoks heading back to the empire, we don't know where this ships will go next." Ross was in a turmoil, trying to plan some sort of strategy for this nightmare.

"And the Colony?" Riker referred to the Cardassian world they were fighting for."

"There's nothing we can do." Ross shook his head, the bitterness of failure finally hitting him. "Begin retreat by wings, damaged ships first."

Riker nodded and switched off the viewer, his own mind trying to grasp just how bad things were and searching for some hope.

"Helm, plot a course back to the Federation. Stay as long as we can."

"Aye sir." Belez's female voice replied, strong despite the shocking arrival of the Borg.

"We can't form a warp field!" Mallard shouted

"What!" Riker demanded.

"I can't explain, massive subspace disturbances, we can't form a warp field!"

"The Borg." Riker looked down. "They tricked us, they wanted us here, all the fleets together. It's a trap…the Borg set a trap." He couldn't believe it.

"Sir, those cubes are closing in, orders?" Berlez looked to him, the entire crew looked to him.

"Full impulse, push it as far as we can." Riker was still shaking his head. "Get us out of here."

He hoped they could fly out on impulse past the interference and then escape to warp, but to do so he had to escape the developing frenzy as the fleets began to dissolve.

And then the Borg attacked.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 5

"Borg ships are surrounding us." O'Brien reported to Worf's disgust.

"Admiral Ross is ordering a full retreat." The chief finished.

For a while Worf was torn between his duty as a Starfleet officer to follow orders and safeguard his crew, and his warrior spirit urging him onto a glorious battle and noble death. After a few moments his professional side won over.

"Plot an escape course," the words felt dirty to him, "maximum warp."

"I can't!" Ezri reported. "Warp drive off line!"

"There's some sort of interference out there preventing us creating a warp field." O'Brien explained. "I can't get past it."

Worf growled in frustration.

"Captain Riker recommends we run like hell Commander." O'Brien relayed the message with a slight smile.

"Helm, Make it so." Worf didn't even realise he was using Picards favoured order, he had learned much from the small human and was ever proud to continue his tradition.

The Defiant powered forward, all around other ships followed the same plan. The fleet split up, hoping that they could slip past the closing Borg trap, hoping the borg would ignore them. The Borg were closing on all sides, they didn't try to destroy the fleeing ships, instead they were trying to disable them, leaving them helpless for future assimilation.

The USS Titan was heading for a gap between two cubes, behind them were a dozen other ships trying the same thing.

"Are we in weapons range?" Riker asked.

"No sir," Mallard replied. "In fact at this speed we should be past the cubes before we enter their range."

"First good news all day." Riker relaxed a little, barring a sudden engine failure he should be home and free, then his priority was to get past the jammers and warn Starfleet command about this massive new threat.

"Err, Captain." Mallard spoke up.

Riker had a really bad feeling about this. "Go ahead."

"Borg vessels are releasing something, I can't get a reading."

"A weapon?"

"Can't tell, its too slow to be a torpedo spread, no energy emissions, just active sensor scans."

"Are they heading for us?"

"No, they're being deployed in our path…" Mallard suddenly spotted the danger, as did Riker.

"Evasive action!" Riker yelled, "Alter course and tell the fleet to do the same!"

The Titan banked hard turning almost fully back on itself, a number of ships did the same. But some continued on, the thought of turning back into a Borg killing ground just something they couldn't face. They ran forward between the Borg sensor contacts and disappeared in sudden fire.

"Dammit!" Riker yelled, angry at their stupidity but also sad for their loss.

"Minefield." Meyer confirmed. "They're deploying a mine field."

A number of other ships heading in different directions also ploughed into mines, forcing those following to break off and head back towards the Borg.

"We're dead." Mallard was begin to lose it. "That's it, game over!"

"Snap out of it!" Riker commanded firmly, he couldn't afford to let despair beat his crew, not yet. "Where are the mine fields?"

"All around us, we're trapped!" Mallard was still almost hysterical.

"They can't be everywhere, there must be a gap!" Riker refused to lose hope, there was always a way.

"I think I see a way out." Berlez on the helm said, "But you aren't going to like it."

"Where?"

"The mines, they can't deploy them close to their own ships."

"Oh you are kidding."

"So if we skim over the surface of a Borg ship we can avoid the minefields…"

"Your crazy!" Mallard yelled.

"Knock it off!" Riker shouted back, "Berlez, can you get us clear?"

"So long as the Borg don't try and stop us."

"I am not reassured." As he spoke he was smiling, it was just risky enough to work.

"Inform the fleet, if it works they can try the same thing, if not… well its better than being assimilated."

The Titan lined up on the nearest cube and set course.

"Here goes nothing." Riker said under his breath.

"Got a ship coming up behind," Meyer reported. "The Defiant."

"Mr Worf." Riker smiled. "Okay people, lets try this plan. Good luck."

Rikers ship lunged forward, the Defiant close behind. Far ahead the Borg ship readied to meet them.

Picard measured his breathing, no matter how many times he faced the Borg he still got the same feeling. The memories of his assimilation, the atrocities he committed under their influence, the sounds of the collective as it rolled inexorably forward. The Queen. In the past his feelings had turned to anger, irrational rage that almost cost him and his world everything. Now he felt more sad, pity for the Borg rather than hatred. But that wouldn't interfere with his duty.

"Borg cube coming into range." Madden announced.

"Lieutenant Monroe," Picard spoke to the new tactical officer, "Two torpedoes, fire."

The Enterprise fired a pair of Transphasic torpedoes at the lone Borg cube attacking the remaining Federation vessels in the system. The two glowing orbs arced toward the cube which made no attempt to dodge or intercept them. They crashed into the Borg vessel, punching deep into its hull and detonating, the Borg vessel dissolving in a titanic explosion.

Picard managed to raise an eyebrow in surprise, he glanced at the tactical officer who seemed eminently pleased.

"Borg Vessel destroyed Captain." Monroe grinned.

"Excellent, tell the surviving ships to head for safety, then put us on course for the next one, two more torpedoes."

The Enterprise turned gracefully around, neatly avoiding the expanding debris field, and headed towards the other Borg vessels.

Worf gripped the armrests of his chair, a habit which infuriated Chief O'Brien because after every battle he had to replace the torn and mangled upholstery. He watched the USS Titan intensely, it was directly ahead of them and fast closing on a Borg cube. The Defiant was keeping pace, covering the much larger ship for what it was worth.

"Borg weapons locking on." O'Brien warned. "Here it comes."

The two ships began their evasive manoeuvres, Borg weapons rushing past the spiralling starships. Both vessels returned fire, hoping to distract the Borg or put off their aim. Green torpedoes and tractor beams reached out to greet the Federation vessels, sweeping across the void.

Riker forced himself to stay seated, he was full of anxious energy, he wanted to rush to the helm and personally pilot the Titan, but Berlez knew her stuff and could outfly anyone he knew. He noticed he was tapping his armrest unconsciously. He quickly stopped and tried to hold still, to show his crew he was calm and in control. The ship jolted as a torpedo struck home, its shields were already weak after the prolonged fight and couldn't hold up to much more.

"Alternating shield frequencies." Meyer announced to try and give the Borg more problems. Riker knew it was pointless, the frequency wasn't going to make a difference to the raw firepower the Borg could unleash.

"Riker to Worf." He activated the Comm system. "Here we go, head for opposite sides and try to split their fire."

"Understood Captain." Worf replied, businesslike as usual.

The ships split up, forcing the Borg to divide their fire. The volume heading up to the Titan slackened, and Berlez saw an opportunity.

"Hang on Captain" she called back as the Titan lurched forward, accelerating to the impulse engines limits.

The massive ship swooped in, skimming across the Borg cubes surface. Two torpedoes hit the Titan, shaking it and reducing its shields to a bare minimum. In return Meyer dropped a volley of Quantum torpedoes and phaser shots onto the cube, fire blossomed around the Titan as the impacts momentarily blinded the Borg, enough to get them past.

"Aft torpedoes, fire!" Riker ordered, another volley lashed out and slammed into the cube, followed by more rapid phaser bursts.

"Continue evasive action." Riker finished. They had made it. "Where's the Defiant?"

"Holding formation on our port quarter, little scorched but in one piece." Meyer reported

"Good old Mr Worf," Riker smiled. "Tell the flagship we are safely through and standing by."

Admiral Ross breathed a huge sigh of relief, there was a chance.

"All ships follow the Titans escape plan, break off and rendezvous at the Ateega system, good luck."

The Federation, Klingon and Cardassian survivors know rushed at the nearest cube into a hail of fire. Dozens of ships were cut down but dozens also made it through and past the Borg net. The heavily damaged Cube near the Colony was the safest route, allied ships streamed past it and away to safety, including Chancellor Martoks battered flagship.

"Alright people we've done all we can, lets go." Ross pinted to the damaged cube and his helmsman set course, the Sovereign class vessel leapt ahead towards the gap, ships all around following his lead. Space was thick with wreckage, with more ships constantly being added to the tally. Each cube was swarmed with multiple targets, but they were precise, destroying the damaged ships first and ignoring the more intact ones, singling out the weak and slaughtering them. For every ship that escaped the blockade two more did not.

The Dauntless aimed for a gap around the damaged cube, despite its wounds it was still putting up a lot of fire, the space around the Dauntless exploded in energy as torpedoes hit nearby ships or were set to proximity strikes. Two Galor's were ripped apart directly infront of Ross, the Dauntless pulled to the left to avoid the debris, a spinning hull barely missing the Federation flagship. Off to the side a battered Defiant class vessel was hit and blown in two halves, an Akira with a warp nacelle missing slammed into the remains and went falling out of control.

"open fire, target its weapons points."

The Dauntless launched a wave of torpedoes and phaser bursts, carving into the cube ahead. The ship rushed forward, the occasional hit shaking her but the shields held. The Dauntless dashed past, a Vor'cha close behind. Ross's ship levelled out and fired a salvo of aft torpedoes to cover its retreat.

Ross was suddenly thrown to the floor with a violent thump, the lights dimmed for a moment before returning at a much lower setting.

"Report!" he yelled.

"We're in a tractor beam, a tactical cube!"

Above the Dauntless a tactical cube had come around to support the crippled cube, it fired a wall of torpedoes at the fleeing ships, smashing their hulls to powder. But not the Dauntless, it had recognised the flagship and determined to assimilate rather than destroy the Sovereign.

"Modulate shields!" Ross ordered desperately.

"No effect!"

Another massive shockwave ran through the ship.

"Main power gone! Weapons failing!"

Ross punched a bulkhead.

"Captain, Borg ship has caught the flagship."

Riker spun in his chair. "Where?"

Meyer punched up the image on the viewscreen, a tactical cube was pulling the Dauntless closer, a handful of ships were attacking the cube, aiming for the tractor beam assembly, but they were rapidly being shot to pieces.

"Worf?" Riker hit the Comm button.

"I see it." The familiar voice answered. "We stand ready to assist."

"Berlez, set course for the flagship, best possible speed."

A Galaxy class ship and two Sabres rushed over the immobilized Dauntless, they unloaded everything they had at the Tactical cube holding the flagship to no effect. In return the cube blasted a Sabre out of the sky and ripped a massive hole in the Galaxy's saucer section.

"Can we get a signal to the fleet?" Ross asked.

"Barely sir."

"Order all ships to get out of here, tell them to leave us!"

"Understood."

Ross couldn't sacrifice more ships in a vain effort to free himself, even though he knew the consequences he had to come to this decision, send away help and accept his fate. But at least it would be the fate he chose.

"Standby auto destruct sequence." Ross intoned solemnly.

"Auto destruct offline." The gentle female voice of the computer responded.

Ross bit down on his lip and clenched his fists, this was not going well.

"Break out the weapons, standby for boarders." Ross unholstered his own phaser, if it came to it he had no qualms about putting the weapon to his own head before he was assimilated.

"I want our best unit in the engine room, place charges on the warp core." Ross made a back up plan. "On my order we'll destroy the ship the hard way."

"Admiral!" his sensor officer called across the darkened bridge. "Captain Riker says hold on!"

The Titan and Defiant were fast closing, on their way they had picked up a small fleet of healthy allied ships and all where now heading to assist the flagship.

"All we have to do is hit the Tractor assembly." Riker told the following ships. "Focus on that one point, then we will take the Dauntless in tow while you cover our retreat."

The different captains acknowledged the order and formed up, the target visible far ahead.

Suddenly a shape passed before the Titan, a Borg vessel moved into the path of the small fleet and blocked its way.

"Borg ship is deploying mines," Meyer announced. "And we have incoming."

"Evasive action, take us around the mines." Riker told his fleet. As one they turned and darted away skirting the expanding minefield, Borg weapons streaking past the smaller ships. Riker cursed, he was losing time.

The Dauntless was slowly being pulled into the cube. There were no more ships in the area, all the survivors were heading away at high speed to try and clear the interference preventing the use of warp travel. Ross was isolated, alone in the silence of space. The bridge was deathly quiet, a heavy curtain of dread waiting to descend on the surviving crew. Explosive charges were set and awaiting his command.

The cube dragged them closer and closer, the helpless flagship unable to respond or act.

"Admiral, the Titan has broken off, she's being intercepted by a cube." The report was not hopeful. "Captain Riker says he is still coming."

Ross smiled through clenched teeth, he respected and admired Riker, but it was a futile gesture, a forlorn hope.

A large section of the Borg ship changed, panels rearranged and moved, sliding a part to reveal a hollow area like a hanger bay, a place the Dauntless was being moved toward.

"They want to take us alive." Ross noted, though everyone had reached the same conclusion. "We can't let that happen, can't let them use the knowledge we have or take a Sovereign."

The crew were in agreement, they couldn't say it out loud but death was considered a better alternative than assimilation.

"Rikers telling us not to give up Admiral."

"We won't be giving up." Ross replied. "Ensign Fowler? Are you ready?"

"Aye sir." A voice came over the communicator. "Charges set and ready."

Inexorably the Dauntless was pulled into the opening, armoured panels sliding closed behind it.

"Can we go to warp!" Riker demanded.

"No sir, we're still being held at impulse."

It was taking to long, they had skirted the minefield and were powering forward back on course, but they were just so far away. He watched in anger and frustration as the Dauntless was consumed by the Cube.

Ross took a last look around the bridge.

"Its been an honour." He smiled genuinely. "Ensign Fowler, do it."

Two Borg drones materialised on the bridge, they raised a whirring arm and approached Admiral Ross.

"You will be assimilated." It said coldly

"yeah?" Ross almost laughed. "And you will be fu-"

The cube exploded in front of Riker, destroyed from the inside by the massive detonation of the USS Dauntless. He watched open mouthed for a long moment, utterly lost in his own thoughts, unable to fully accept the sequence of events.

"Captain." Berlez spoke softly. "Captain, orders?"

Riker snapped out of it, eyes blinking rapidly.

"Get us out of this place, all of us. Just get us away."

The small fleet turned and left, the last ships turning their backs to their lost comrades and fleeing. The Borg did not pursue, they turned their attention toward the colony and began setting up a permanent presence in the Alpha quadrant.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 6

"Second cube in range." Monroe said to his Captain.

"Fire." Picard replied, he watched and hoped as the Transphasic warheads slammed into a second Borg cube and obliterated it. He was both amazed and shocked that Starfleet had such a potent weapon and had so far failed to deploy it. He was going to have serious words with command.

"Vessel destroyed." Madden reported unnecessarily. "The three remaining ships are grouping together."

That wasn't good, it meant they could cover each other from the Enterprises approach. Picard smiled thinly, they had adapted.

"Bring us in on one of the flanking vessels and standby torpedoes."

The Enterprise turned gracefully around and sped forward toward the remaining Borg, who in turn turned to face the small ship coming to challenge them. Long range fire began to streak towards the Enterprise, at this distance it was easy to avoid but as the range closed and the volume of fire increased things were going to get messy.

"Torpedoes armed and ready."

"Good, fire on my command." Despite the power of this new weapon Picard knew the Borg, and he knew that they would already be adapting to this particular form of attack. He had to act fast.

The Barrage was becoming more and more intense as the Borg weapons began getting closer and closer to hitting the Enterprise. Each new volley rocked the ship more, forcing it to take ever wilder evasive action.

"Captain, if this fire keeps up we aren't going to be able to close the range." Monroe reported. "There's just too much fire heading our way."

Picard quickly went through his options, he could hurt the Borg badly with these torpedoes, but the Borg could still swat him out of the sky with contempt. He was torn by his desire to destroy the enemies of the Federation and the sure and almost certain knowledge that if he tried to take on three cubes at once he was going to die.

"Captain, I have some survivors from the second fleet offering to cover us." Madden relayed the message. "Forty ships."

"No," Picard was resigned to the inevitable. "Order them to retreat, then get us out of here."

"Captain?"

"We can't take on three cubes alone, and the other ships will just be lambs to the slaughter." Picard closed his eyes, hating to leave the colony but facing no choice. "Continue on to rendezvous with the sixth fleet as soon as we are clear of the Warp inhibitor field."

The small group of Federation vessels broke off and headed away, finally going to warp outside the system and leaving the Borg in control.

Not long after pulling back the Enterprise found the first stragglers of the first and sixth fleets limping back into Federation territory, soon they picked up the Defiant and the Titan and moved to intercept.

"Captain Picard." Riker beamed. "Good to see you, when we lost contact we feared the worst."

"Glad to see you too Captain." Picards smile was genuine. "What happened?"

Riker relayed the whole sad tale, dropping Picard deeper and deeper into his own thoughts and memories. The Borg had changed from what he knew, his experience with them in the past may not be the war winner it once was. When Riker had finished Picard paused for a few moments letting it all soak in before speaking.

"The Borg have taken the Ateega system, I've ordered the survivors to regroup at Deep Space nine, I suggest you head out there too get yourselves patched up." Picard returned to his chair. "I have to see Starfleet command."

Praetor Tal'aura read over the reports again as she waited. It said the same thing it had done when she first read it, the Borg had attacked the Romulan border world of Arusu and the fleet was mobilising to engage. The Praetor was still fairly new having taken over after the Reman incident, despite unsavoury connections with the conspiracy she was technically the only living senator and so the only logical choice.

Finally the door chimed as her visitor arrived.

"Enter." she announced.

In walked a small Romulan female, green blood fresh beneath a bandage on her head and her uniform still stained with more dried on green blood from her wounds. Admiral Donatra had rapidly risen through the ranks thanks mainly to the strong patronage of the new Praetor and her own skills.

"Praetor, it is my duty to report that the Arusu system has fallen to the Borg." She cast her eyes down. "I must also report the loss of two hundred and nineteen warbirds sent to reclaim the planet."

"That's almost every ship we sent!" Tal'aura exclaimed.

"Yes Praetor, we were ambushed by three cubes, they have a way to disable warp drives. We were surrounded and cut to pieces. Eight ships survived."

"I am pleased to see you survived." The Praetor remarked. "Political allies are hard to find."

"Yes Praetor."

"Find Admiral Suran and begin laying plans for a defence of our inner worlds incase the Borg make a move inwards."

"Will we be asking for outside help Praetor?"

"Leave politics to me." Tal'aura smiled, "Go find the Admiral, I expect a report tomorrow."

Donatra saluted and left. As the door closed Tal'aura waved her hand and a second door opened behind her.

"You heard?" the Praetor asked.

"Yes." Replied a female voice from the new entry way.

"You failed," the Praetor continued. "You failed to predict the Borg attack and you failed to predict that they would use tactics."

"Yes Praetor."

"Remind me of the price of failure in the Tal'shiar?"

"It would be death."

"The price of your failure is two hundred and nineteen loyal warbirds."

"Praetor, we could not have predicted this." The female voice continued, "The Borg are methodical but erratic, once they arrive we can predict their actions but before then we are blind."

"I do not care for your excuses commander."

"Before we lost communications we received reports that the Borg had been sighted in Federation, Klingon, Cardassian, Breen, Gorn and Tholian space with unconfirmed sightings in a dozen other areas. Praetor I believe this is a full scale Borg invasion of the civilized quadrant."

"So why are they attacking border worlds, why not just assimilate Romulus itself? They must know we can't stop them."

"Perhaps Praetor, but there are a lot of pieces missing from the puzzle. I intend to find them."

"Make sure you do commander." Tal'aura faced her. "Or you will pay the same price as the crews we sent to face the Borg."

"Of course." Commander Sela returned the way she had come and desperately tried to decide how she was going to infiltrate the Borg collective.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 7

Colonel Kira watched as more and more ships began filling the space around station Deep Space Nine. The battered survivors of the Federation taskforce limped into range and settled slowly into positions within the stations defences. Kira authorized the unrestricted use of the stations facilities and supplies in order to try and help the fleet. Within minutes the medical bays were filled to bursting point, wounded Starfleet personnel were laid out on the promenade as frantic medics rushed around trying to save whom they could.

Still more ships trickled in, all of them showing signs of the hard fighting they had endured. Finally the sensors showed her what she wanted to see, she closed her eyes and exhaled in a moment of pure relief as the USS Defiant entered sensor range, generally intact and healthy. It was the last ship to arrive, along with the USS Titan. One hundred and fifty ships in total had made it back to DS9, a fraction of those that had left. Based on what she had heard of the Borg it was going to get a lot worse.

A few days later the Enterprise found itself once more in Earth orbit, having proceeded at maximum warp from the battlefield. Picard was met by the sight of hundreds of ships above the world patrolling against Borg attack. He was heartened by this, but at the same time not reassured, if the Borg came in force nothing would stop them, unless Picard got his way.

Picard materialised in Starfleet HQ, Geordi LaForge beside him clutching a datapad.

"Captain, this is a bit of a surprise." The duty officer began.

"Oh there's definitely a surprise coming." Picard growled and stormed past the man.

"Err, Captain, you can't go down there, Captain!" the officer cried

"Don't try and stop him." Geordi advised, "You really don't want to get in his way."

Admiral Necheyev fixed the council with an icy stare, cold blue eyes and bright blond hair tied into a rigid style disguised the admirals true character. Her small figure held a sharp mind, cold and calculating like a Romulan while being as fierce and aggressive as a Klingon. She was head of Starfleets threat assessment team, the group of officers responsible for preparing the Federation for wars in the future and as such was one of the fleets most qualified officers.

"Mr President, our initial reports are that the first, second, fourth and sixth fleets have been decimated." She spoke clearly and concisely, betraying no emotion. "We have lost about Eight hundred and fifty ships including ten admirals, including Admiral Ross. The Klingons and Cardassians lost a further five hundred ships between them."

"This is a nightmare." The President muttered.

"Additionally we have lost the Ateega system near the Cardassian border, though we have no confirmation…"

"I will confirm it." Captain Picard stormed into the room. "The colony is assimilated and millions of Federation citizens are dead." He let the words hang in the air. Picard was a measured man, decades in space had taught him patience and tact, the keys to diplomacy. But right now diplomacy was the last thing on his mind.

"Captain Picard." A Vulcan admiral stood. "You have not been invited to this meeting."

"Careful Jean-luc." Admiral Janeway cautioned. Picard was having none of it.

"You sent our ships out to battle without giving them the means to defeat the Borg!"

"There are no reliable means." The Vulcan pointed out. The President was silent.

Picard motioned to LaForge who uploaded his data into the briefing rooms screen.

"Transphasic torpedoes." Picard announced as plans appeared on the screen. "These weapons can destroy a cube in one shot, I myself have seen it, using these torpedoes I destroyed two cubes in seconds!"

The meeting watched in stunned silence, to most this was a revelation.

"But Captain," the President began.

"If our fleet had been given these weapons they would have crushed the Borg in the first battle and prevented them gaining a foothold!"

"Captain these are weapons from the future!" the president retorted. "I'm not sure how you got them," he flung a glance at Janeway, "but they are not authorized for deployment in case they disrupt the timeline."

"They've already been deployed!" Picard pointed out, his rage gradually rising. "The timeline is already disrupted, these weapons exist here and now! We must use them!"

"We can't!" the president felt his own rage creeping in. "Temporal policy is…"

"DAMN POLICY!" Picard exploded, shocking the meeting. "I am talking about the death of every single member of the Alpha quadrant, trillions of lives depend on stopping the Borg! We can do it, we can defeat them. For the first time ever we can stand up to a borg invasion and send them all straight to hell! Authorize the damn weapons!"

The President sat in silence, nobody had ever spoken to him like that.

"Is this true?" the Vulcan asked. "Do such weapons exist?"

"Yes." Necheyev answered on his behalf. "And more besides."

"Logically it is better to…"

"I am aware of the argument." The president responded.

"So make a decision." Picard said, quieter but with a hard edge in his words.

"I have forces standing by." Necheyev added. "Experimental but active."

"Just make the right choice." Picard glared at the President.

Borg Cube 5 of 16 reporting sensor contacts. Location former Federation colony designated Ateega. Contacts Federation vessels, designation Prometheus class, type attack cruiser, number fourteen. Possible advanced technology detected. Priority assimilation, moving to assimilate.

Override, new tactical directive, all cubes move to assimilate. Resistance is futile

The fourteen Prometheus class ships ripped through space, sleek grey hulls moving like a pack of sharks moving in on their prey. Sixteen Borg cubes had taken station in the Ateega system, the once green world already ravaged by assimilation and showing signs of a Borg colony sprouting up.

All of the Borg cubes moved toward the small fleet, as arrogant and confident as only machines can be. No fear, no remorse only their directives.

"We are Borg." They began the same speech used a million times in a million battles, almost all of them had ended in the Borg adding more drones to their collective. Not this time.

The Federation vessels responded, the already heavily armoured hulls of the attack cruisers were suddenly covered in even more armour, thick plates sweeping across their hulls and enclosing the vessel beneath. Adaptive shields sparked on, matching the contours of the vessel underneath as they accelerated to attack speed.

"Resistance is futile."

Massed volleys of Transphasic torpedoes ripped into the Borg, all sixteen cubes died in seconds as the Attack cruisers swooped by. They raced past the growing Borg colony and dropped more torpedoes on it. Perhaps somewhere some of the Colonists had survived, they had hidden from the Borg, or had been ignored. It didn't matter. In the past perhaps the ships would have scanned the area but not now, too much had happened, too much was at stake. Nuclear fire swept through the main Borg structures as the Torpedoes struck and blasted apart what they found.

The attack cruisers kept going, they never slowed down, never paused. They simply engaged their cloaks and left the ruin of the system behind them.


End file.
